The Dancing Bride And Her Spirit Warrior - Episode 53

 

Koni was on his office working on the much delayed report he had to present to the KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) about the attack on Karura Forest. After he had been able to rescue Vuyanzi from Kaunda, Kweyu and the other outcast. His position had been quickly reinstated and he was able to continue being the team leader and the Managing Director of the Nyati Animal Reserve.

The hyena attacks had been a curse and a blessing in disguise. Tourists had flocked the reserve in hope of viewing the hyenas . It improved the economy of the town. Koni didn’t know if he should be thankful or angered by the outcome.

His team had insured that he didn’t have much to do but still there were things that needed his expertise.

He was so engrossed in her work that he nearly missed the knock at the door. Nearly.

He hadn’t opened his mouth to ask the one knocking to come in when the door was open and Guma the rainmaker stepped in dressed in oddly matched clothes like always. The shirt was clean but unevenly buttoned and the trousers were too large for his waist, he had on a large belt that held everything in place. Koni wondered why the old man even bothered with clothes, clearly they didn’t suit him. To Koni’s surprise the smell of alcohol was not there

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. Guma was sober once more.

Behind Guma was the blind oral narrator that they had once kidnapped. He was dressed in a long dress shirt and was surprisingly standing straight, a long walking stick beside him. His clouded eyes were staring erringly at him steadily and Koni just confirmed that the old man was partially blind. Or how else was he able to look at his direction?

Koni would have wondered why the two were together but he didn’t, it was time these two sides worked together to find a solution about how to fight the amanani. Like water and fire, the oral narrator custodian of the history of the warriors and the rainmakers repelled each other. It was blame game from all the sides. The oral narrators claimed the rainmakers gave the amanani the ability to possess humans and animals. An accusation that Koni had found out to be true. The rainmakers claimed they were only working on the orders of the oracle. It was an endless blame game that Koni had grown tired of.

They needed solution and not more reason to hate each other.

So he had gone ahead and asked the rainmaker and the orator to find solutions against the fight with the amanani. The two agreed to tolerate each other until a solution was found.

Seeing them in his office Koni assumed that a resolution had come up.

‘’Young Jasiri, I thought you will be planning for your wedding by now but seeing you here I guess not,’’ the old narrator chuckled after sitting down. Koni was surprised, he had never seen the old man laugh in his life. He always appeared to be brooding in his office smoking his old pipe. A pipe that was currently missing.

Maybe like Guma who had stopped drinking, the oral narrator had discovered that weed was bad. Koni could only guess.

‘’Thank you for your concern but I guess you are here to talk about business,’’ Koni directed them back to the topic.

‘’Loosen up a bit Mr. Jasiri. Maybe he’s having cold feet already,’’ Guma laughed and the old narrator joined in guffaws.

‘’I thought it was only brides who get cold feet,’’ the oral narrator smartly added and they laughed even more.

‘’Enough,’’ Koni growled and the two old men instantly grew silent. What was wrong with these two?

Koni looked at them surprised, he wondered when the two had become best friends. They nearly tore each other apart the last time Koni had seen them. And now they were ganging up against him?

‘’Okay, we have a solution young Jasiri for one problem.’’

‘’I am listening,’’ Koni folded his arms on his chest and looked squarely at the oral narrator.

‘’We can help stop the amanani possessing human and animals body’’

‘’That is good news. When can we do it?’’ Koni was anxious to get the business done. The amanani would be easy to fight if he didn’t have to worry about harming the host in the process. ‘’When can we do it?’’

‘’As soon as the rains fall,’’ this time it was Guma who spoke. ’I have finally understood why you referred to me as a rainmaker,’’ he nodded his head in understanding.

‘’You do?’’ it took Guma long enough.

‘’Yes. My forefathers managed to cast a spell in the rain granting the amanani ability to possess animals and humans. That fateful the rain fell and the amanani received their new capabilities. I can cast a spell to break the curse. To reverse the curse, I have to hex the rain again,’’

Koni nodded his head at the simple solution he wondered if they could make the amanani disappear altogether.

‘’No the amanani can be cast away that easily. You have to understand young Jasiri the spirit warrior and amanani were created from the same elements.’’ The oral orator explained and Koni correlated with what Kaunda had said. The outcast hadn’t lied. He will have to question him again later, now Koni decided to focus on limiting the amanani abilities.

If Guma was right, the amanani would never possess a human or an animal again and that would be enough.

For now.

…………………………………………………

Today was the D-Day. Vuyanzi anxiously wrung her fingers together as she looked at herself in the mirror. She could not believe the transformation she was undergoing. The make-up artist her aunt had flown from Rwanda was working some magic on her, she looked like a completely different person and the lady didn’t seem to be done.

‘’don’t be so nervous, everything will be fine,’’ her aunt who was constantly at her side squeezed her hands effectively calming her down. Vuyanzi was thankful for the presence of her aunt. Neza had been nothing but supportive since she stepped in Nyati town.

‘’Vuyanzi you can’t imagine the number of people we have shown up and it isn’t noon yet.’’ Caro entered the room dressed in a beautiful kitenge (Ankara/Chitenge) dress nearly matching hers but Vuyanzi’s was silver in color with golden patterns in it. A cloth courtesy of her aunt. Though Koni had given her a platinum card capable of purchasing anything local and online, Vuyanzi was still hesitant to use it. Her aunt had come to her rescue and taken over the planning saving Vuyanzi from making blunders. Materials had been purchased from Ghana and a dressmaker flown from Nairobi. The past two days Vuyanzi had been poked and probed several times by the no nonsense high end tailor who was intent on making Vuyanzi into the bride she was supposed to be.

‘’That is very true, the grooms family is not even here and the place is currently full. This is not what I expected at all,’’ Tabu followed Caro in also dressed in the same matching dress. Apart from Caro and Tabu, Vuyanzi had two more somo (brides’ maids). The somo were her age mates and were to stay with her all the time until she was completely married to Koni. After the wedding ceremony they were to accompany her to her new home and stay with her there for almost a week in order to help her with the housework. Being a new bride she was not supposed to work or touch anything. She was to focus on catering for the needs of her husband. Vuyanzi blushed at that thinking about catering for Koni’s needs. She had no qualms doing that.

Since that night he proposed to her, he decided to be a stickler for rules. He hadn’t come to see her again no matter how much she lied to herself she was not waiting for him. It made Vuyanzi believe their interaction that night had been a dream.

‘’Vuyanzi are you blushing? ‘’ Tabu questioned noticing Vuyanzi’s expression.

‘’Of course she is blushing. She is thinking about her wedding night,’’ Caro chuckled and everyone in the room bust into a loud laughter making Vuyanzi blush even more.

‘’I am not a blushing bride.’’ Vuyanzi hotly retorted back willing for all of them to stop mocking of her. She was anxious as it is and the ribbing was worsening it.

‘’Oh come on Vuyanzi don’t worry about it, the wedding night is days away from now. You have time to prepare for it,’’

Vuyanzi nearly told them that she had already consummated her bond with Koni but held herself back. She was not going give them a reason to mock her anymore. She looked at the mirror to see her aunt giving her a small smile, as if she knew what she was thinking. Vuyanzi avoided her gaze.

‘’Okay girls let us give the bride space for her to dress,’’ Neza ushered the still laughing girls out and Vuyanzi was relieved. She loved her cousin and friends but now she could not stand them.

They were using her grandmother’s room as her dressing room because the rest of the house was full of people. Relatives she had not seen for a long time and others who normally ignored her convened for this day. They had come to witness the (harusi ya ndovu kumla mwananwe) ‘wedding of the year’. For the past two days guests had been steadily pouring in and in no time the always large house was full. Vuyanzi knew that the news of her upcoming nuptials had spread out fast but she didn’t expect such a crowd. She was finding out relatives she hardly knew she had. Even Tabu’s mother was smiling at her and constantly praised her for landing a rich man like Koni.

And to make matters worse, today was only the dowry negotiations day. The wedding was to take place two days later. According to their traditions. Koni and his people were to agree on the dowry today and send the dowry tomorrow then on the third day Vuyanzi was to be married but it seemed like they were doing everything in reversal. First Koni had sent dowry before the negotiations. Vuyanzi wondered why it was even necessary for the negotiations, surely the dowry had already been paid. Why couldn’t they just jump to the wedding direct?

‘’Come on Vuyanzi let us fit you inside your dress,’’ aunt Neza helped her up from her seat and helped Vuyanzi inside her dress, ‘’you have to be ready for when you are called upon by your uncles,’’

That was the reason for Vuyanzi’s panic. She had to parade herself before her uncles and the groom’s family so that she could accept or deny Koni proposal. Vuyanzi felt her stomach grow heavy at the thought of facing all those people. She swallowed hard. I mean is there really need for that? Vuyanzi though, she had already accepted his ring for crying out loud.

‘’They are already here,’’ her grandmother’s voice was at the door before Vuyanzi could even see her. Her grandmother was dressed in a long flowery dress that had a matching cap. She looked stunning. She smiled when she saw Vuyanzi.

‘’Nyanya you have totally transformed from a young girl to a gorgeous woman. I mean look at you. Mr. Jasiri will fall on his feet when he looks at you,’’ her grandmother twirled her round and round in the room and Vuyanzi felt some of her apprehension fly through the window.

A loud ululation came from the front of her grandmother’s house and Vuyanzi could hear cars hooting at the gate. The loud music at from the public address system stopped and her relatives broke into a song and dance to welcome the guests.

Vuyanzi my bride, Koni’s voice carried in the air.

Koni is here, Vuyanzi thought giddily.

‘’That’s better. A beautiful smile completes the look nyanya.’’ Lishevi lightly pinched her granddaughter’s cheek saying a silent prayer for Vuyanzi to find happiness at last.

‘’I will go check on the guests.’’ Neza excused herself and left Vuyanzi alone and Lishevi.

‘’I have something for you,’’ Lishevi started fumbling inside a huge wardrobe at one corner of the room. She came out with something wrapped inside a wrapper.

‘’What is that shosho?’’ Vuyanzi asked anxiously.

‘’Something I was to give your mother as a gift but we all know how that went about,’’ Lishevi silently said as she patted the wrapped gift,’’ but now I can give it to you,’’

Slowly she unwrapped the gift. An intricate designed black calabash with beautiful patterns drawn on top. Vuyanzi could not believe she was receiving such a precious gift. Beside it was a black and white whisk.

‘’ Shosho where have you been hiding all these,’’ Vuyanzi was awed. She had gone through her grandmother’s house through more than once but she had never seen the items.

‘’You have never been keen enough,’’ Lishevi dismissed her flippantly, ‘’ these have been here all the time. I received them from my mother who received them from her mother.

Read " Jabali's Redemption " by the same author ( Razia Iminza )

. They have been passed down for so long that I hardly remember the exact time they were made. And now am passing them to you. They are not dhahabu na almasi (gold and diamonds) or any of those shiny gifts Mr. Jasiri has showered you with. But I give these with love Nyanya…’’ Vuyanzi could not bear it anymore, she threw her arms around her grandmother’s shoulders knocking her cap off and bawling like a small child.

‘’Shosho…’’ Vuyanzi couldn’t get words out. No words would ever explain how she felt for her shosho. No words.

‘’Now Nyanya, you are going to get all that make up on me and make your eyes swollen. We can’t have you looking grumpy on your wedding photos Vuyanzi. For crying out loud compose yourself,’’ Lishevi mockingly admonished her but Vuyanzi only held her tightly.

She didn’t want to let go of her grandmother. The woman who had been with her since the beginning.

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We have a wedding to prepare for ebonites hahaha. I hope you are ready. 

Koni has found a solution but will it work?

Tell me your thoughts down below.

Much love.